By hijacking a spider’s nervous system, a wasp larva can manipulate the spider into making a stronger web, according to a study published yesterday in The Journal of Experimental Biology. Of course, that’s right before the larva kills the enslaved spider its been feeding on for days — and uses the web to make a cocoon.
There’s nothing subtle about the way in which the Reclinervellus nielseni wasp larva takes control of the Cyclosa argenteoalba spider’s nervous system. First, an adult female wasp must attack a spider so it can lay an egg on the spider’s abdomen. When the egg hatches, the wasp larva feeds itself by sucking on the spider’s hemolymph — the insect equivalent of blood. This is probably where the mind control starts to happen; researchers think the larva “injects” the spider with substances that alter its web-building behaviors. So, when the larva’s done growing, it manipulates the spider into making a special type of web. As soon as the task is complete, the larva molts, kills the spider, and spins the altered web into a hanging cocoon that it can chill in for about 10 days while it develops.
via The Verge
